The bills touch on several aspects of elections, including security, mail-in ballots and the dissemination of deepfakes.<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES (CN) \u2014 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed several bills on Saturday intended to safeguard elections, pointing to what he called President Donald Trump\u2019s history of attacking democracy.<\/p>\n
The host of bills touch on the improper seizure of ballots and the distribution of misleading audio and video like \u201cdeepfakes.\u201d It also expands the time vote-by-mail drop-off locations are open and further restricts the type of activities near polling places through 2029.<\/p>\n
Newsom, in a statement, said the new laws fulfill a July 4 promise he made to defend and protect ballots against political interference, especially from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump won\u2019t stop until he can exert dictatorial control over your free vote and disenfranchise millions of people this November,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cCalifornia will stop him at every opportunity. We have no bigger task than fighting to protect the right to vote from interference and meddling \u2014 the future of democracy is on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Golden State Democrats have highlighted the need to protect elections this year. They lambasted Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, after he seized 650,000 ballots<\/a> in the wake of November\u2019s election to redraw congressional lines. They\u2019ve also pushed back on Trump\u2019s perceived moves to restrict mail-in voting by requiring the postal service to only deliver ballots to verified voters.<\/p>\n The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday halted any restrictions<\/a> on ballot delivery by mail.<\/p>\n Assembly Bill 282<\/a> \u2014 by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, a Santa Cruz Democrat \u2014 focuses on the seizure of ballots. It makes seizing ballots, election records or voting technology before an election\u2019s certification a felony.<\/p>\n Senate Bill 259<\/a> \u2014 by former state Senator Aisha Wahab, a Silicon Valley Democrat now in Congress \u2014 makes it a felony to have someone under their authority interfere with delivering or returning vote-by-mail ballots.<\/p>\n Newsom also signed the California Voting Rights Act of 2026<\/a> \u2014 two bills written by state Senator Sabrina Cervantes, a Riverside Democrat. They prohibit the implementation of any election policy that would dilute the votes of protected classes. They also increase language access services and translated election materials.<\/p>\n \u201cThe California Voting Rights Act of 2026 delivers an extra layer of defense for California voters, so they can feel confident their voices will be heard at the polls,\u201d Cervantes said in a statement. \u201cVoters should not have to fight discrimination, language barriers and voter suppression while jumping over endless hurdles as they cast their votes in future elections.\u201d<\/p>\n A handful of bills focus on deceptive election information.<\/p>\n Assembly Bill 502<\/a>, by Pellerin, modifies existing law that forbids people from knowingly and with malice distributing a campaign ad with significant deceptive content, unless certain criteria are met.<\/p>\n Assembly Bill 686<\/a> \u2014 by Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Menlo Park Democrat \u2014 extends the sunset date to Jan. 1, 2031, for a prohibition on distributing materially deceptive deepfakes. The distributor must have malice and intend to hurt a candidate\u2019s reputation or deceive voters.<\/p>\n